Fleury was not the reason the pens lost tonight. Henrik did not have to be great tonight. The pens barely had a powerplay and many of their shots he saw easily. That all being said i would let fleury go.

He has one year left in his contract, I would let him play it out. This isn't a Letang situation where he is eating up a lot more cap space than he is worth.... $5M is the going rate for a starting goaltender, and cheaper than many goalies I would put on a similar level (Bobrovsky, Varlamov, Howard, Ward). It would be different if a goalie-desperate team called with a great offer, but I don't see that happening.

Put a quality defensive team in front of him, like games 3 and 4 and he is great. Field **** on the ice in front of him, likes games 5, and 6 (to some degree 7), and he doesn't look as good. If you would have switched Fluery for Lundquist tonight, the Rangers would have still won!

The grass isn't always greener. If the Pens let him go, there's a good chance he goes to a team that has defensive structure and puts up Vezina numbers. Pens need a change, but the goalie isn't the issue. He should stay.

orpchar wrote:He has one year left in his contract, I would let him play it out. This isn't a Letang situation where he is eating up a lot more cap space than he is worth.... $5M is the going rate for a starting goaltender, and cheaper than many goalies I would put on a similar level (Bobrovsky, Varlamov, Howard, Ward). It would be different if a goalie-desperate team called with a great offer, but I don't see that happening.

I agree with this. There is no need to jump the gun on signing him to an extension. Let him play out his contract and if an upgrade cannot be found, re-sign him for an even cheaper deal.

I vote yes. Flower is not a bad goalie. This year in net he has redeemed himself from last year. The problem is, the Pens do not have any options right now better than Fleury. He's in by default, at least until Jarry is ready.

Steve wrote:Who's available to replace MAF? It's tough to answer that poll without knowing.

MAF was solid in the postseason for the most part.

Well, Halak is likely out of the equation. His agent said he's very interested in signing with the Islanders where he'll be the unconstested #1.

So that leaves Hiller and Miller. Hiller is a lateral move - you won't get anything more out of him than you'd get out of Fleury. Miller will come at an added cost, and may not even be interested as he reportedly wants to head to California.

Tico Rick wrote:I really feel that Fleury turned the corner this year and that he will be great as a mature, older goaltender.

He's one year and two years removed from the most hilarious goalie performances ever and played very inconsistently this postseason. 2 shutouts, yeah, but also the terrible CBJ games. He's also only won 2 series in 5 years. Not particularly encouraging.

He is simply an average NHL starting goaltender. I think the goal of the GM should be to acquire an above average NHL goaltender if possible, but if the only options are worse goaltenders, you have to live with average I suppose.

Fleury isn't the reason they lost this series, but he isn't exactly performing better than an average goalie. He has the talent to do so, but is too inconsistent. I'd consider trading him and using the cap space elsewhere depending on what average goalie is available in FA.